Ron’s Thanksgiving-a-Palooza 2011

Thanksgiving With Cyclops and Jean GreyTo be honest, I’m not the biggest fan of Thanksgiving. It’s not like I openly dislike it (like Halloween), I’m just a Christmas guy. Thanksgiving is great because we get a 4 day weekend, and sure it’s a great time for someone like me who loves to eat and somewhat interminable for someone not into Football like myself. Ultimately, I can take it or leave it. But the one aspect of this American holiday that I do like is the concept of giving thanks.

While I think it’s good to be mindful of what we have and what we’re thankful for everyday, it’s nice to take one day out of the year and assess and give thanks for all the great things we do have in our lives.  Of course, for the purpose of this post, my list of things to give thanks for is comics specific, because who are we kidding? What’s more important than comics?

Now, after looking at the site stats for iFanboy.com in 2011, you’d think I was thankful for the DC Comics relaunch. But once I stopped counting all those zeroes, I realized that it’s more than just page views and visitors, that Thanksgiving means more than that. So I looked deep within to share with you the things I was most thankful for.

RON’S 2011 COMICS THANKSGIVING

This year, I give comics thanks for…

Scott Lobdell & Chuck Austen

It may come as a surprise that this year I’d be thanking two of the most notorious writers in the history of Uncanny X-Men, but as I sit here and look back on what has been one of the most exciting times for the X-Men books, I can’t help but to think about the dark times of the X-Men. When we hit bottom in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when all hope seemed to be lost and the books would never retain their former glory.  After shimmers and glimpses and coming close with Grant Morrison, Joe Casey, Joss Whedon, and Ed Brubaker, but never quite getting there, the shadow of Lobdell and Austen loomed large. But then Rick Remender, Kieron Gillen and Jason Aaron came along and now my cup runneth over with quality X-Men.  Uncanny X-Force, Uncanny X-Men and Wolverine & The X-Men are some of the best X-Men comics in a long time, possibly ever and that’s definitely something I’m thankful for.  Now let’s just hope that Marvel doesn’t change anything in 2012 with these books!

A Place Where Everyone Knows Your Name

This year has been a huge step forward for digital comics. It’s been one of the main stories of the year, with practically every publisher out there finally getting into the digital game, with many of them diving all the way in with same day as print releases. One of the concerns over digital comics was that would mean the death of the comic book store. Now, that may still end up being true, but for now, I’m insanely thankful that there are wonderful places to go and celebrate comic books with other like-minded folk. I’m doubly lucky that in both cities that I call home there are two of the best comic book stores in the nation. In San Francisco, I call Isotope Comics my second home. I’m there so much, I’m even the mayor on Foursquare. There isn’t another place in this foggy city that is as welcoming or wonderful to be at than Isotope. When I’m back in New York, I’m lucky to have Bergen St. Comics to go to for all my comics needs.  You know you shop at a good comic book store when a visit to the shop means being there for hours talkin’ comics and the industry or whatever else is worth chatting about. I’m incredibly thankful to be able to call not one, but two comic stores my home for comics.

Who Knew This Community Was So Great?

For the past 10 years, Josh, Conor and I have been keeping the lights on at iFanboy. For at least 5 years or so, aside from The Dude Abides, no one really cared. But then sometime around 2006, many of you began taking notice and the iFanbase was born. Within the past couple of years, we’ve seen the rest of the comics industry finally catch up to what the iFanbase knew, that what we do here at iFanboy is pretty special.

I’m immensely thankful for the position iFanboy now holds within the comic book industry. It’s incredibly rewarding to be working with the top comics publishers and creators to help us celebrate our love for this wacky medium.  In doing so, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting some of the most interesting and creative people I’ve ever met.  Writers, artists, letterers, inkers, editors, PR people, other comics media site writers and managers, the list goes on and on. It takes a cast of thousands to run the comic book industry and it’s amazing to know that so many of them are simply awesome people, many of whom I now consider to be friends. We’ve attended cons and panels together, drank together, sang together, covered press conferences together, and many events and activities. It’s amazing to me how many my active friends now are within the comics industry and that’s something to be thankful for.

It’s Hard To Call This “Work”

iFanboy at C2E2'11

iFanboy at C2E2'11

I can’t talk about being thankful without being thankful for the fact that I get to call this my job. Working at Graphicly and iFanboy is truly a dream come true. Being able to cash a paycheck that’s driven from working in comics is amazing and I’m lucky to be able to do that and give thanks for that everyday. But today is different.

Today I would like to give thanks for the opportunity to work at such an amazing job with some of the smartest and most dedicated co-workers I’ve ever worked with. The team at Graphicly is committed to our vision of being the premiere digital comics solution for creators, publishers and fans alike.  iFanboy has become a gathering of some of the most creative and talented people I’ve had the opportunity to work with as well.  If I had one group of co-workers like the ones I have at Graphicly, I would consider myself lucky, but to have two groups like the ones I get to work with? It’s like I won the lotto.

I’m thankful to be able to work with the amazing team at Graphicly: Micah Baldwin, Scott McCaskill, Micah Laaker, Dan Theurer, David Uslan, Kate Lauder, Mark Rebec, Thanavath Jaroenvanit, Zach Graves, Joshua Emmons, Will Hommel, Becky Jewell, Brent Nicholas, Karl Christian, Tim Campbell, Owen Wears, Patrick Fricano, Audrey Zarr and anyone else I may have missed.

Here at iFanboy, I’m thankful for the fact that the site is packed with some amazing contributors who make the site the kind of comic site that I would want to read on a daily basis (Which was our original vision back in 2001). I can’t believe how much the iFanboy family has grown, and I’m immensely thankful for all the great contributions from: Chris Arrant, Chris Neseman, Ryan Haupt, Jeff Reid, Jim Mroczkowski, Josh Richardson, Matt Adler, Mike Romo, Molly McIsaac, Sam Costello, Ben Simpson, Tom Katers, Timmy Wood, Josh Christie, Ali Coluccio, Jason Wood, John Siuntres, and Dave Wiese.

I’m especially thankful for Paul Montgomery, the hard word he does for iFanboy and the fact that he always makes me laugh.

And finally, I couldn’t be anymore thankful for being able to work with my co-founders, co-workers and best friends, Josh Flanagan and Conor Kilpatrick.

Those Closest To Me

iFanboy at NYCC'10If you follow me on Twitter, you probably know that I tend to move around alot. Between San Francisco, New York City and the numerous comics conventions I’ve attended this past year, I’m a bit of a moving target. I imagine that doesn’t make me that ideal of a person to have a relationship with.  Luckily I have some of the most amazing people in my life.  I’m thankful for some of the most amazing friends a guy can ask for.  Whether they’re in SF, NYC or around the world via IM and Skype, my friends have been there to bounce ideas off of, make connections and listen to my insane ramblings and ideas.  I’m thankful for the patience and support of my family, who tolerate my whirlwind trips to New York, numerous airport pickups and a warm place to rest my head.  They’ve continued to support me and the ridiculousness of my schedule and life in general.

As of 2011, I’ve chosen to make the majority of my life about comics. We all work very hard here at iFanboy/Graphicly HQ and sometimes it’s easy to lose perspective of that. But when I arrive back on Long Island and my niece Amelia looks up at me and asks, “Did you bring me a comic?” I’m reminded why we do this, and that moment right there, that’s what I’m thankful for.

 

 

Comments

  1. This might sound a little strange and saccharine, but I’m grateful that there is an online comic community to visit. I don’t know anyone else in my “real” life that is into comics and I used to avoid comics websites because of spoilers and the often-negative articles and comments I ran into, so iFanboy and the two other comics podcasts that I listen to are a really important aspect of keeping me interested in the hobby and learning what other people are into and digging.

    I honestly didn’t know there were other people obsessed with the X-Men until I started listening to iFanboy.

  2. This was really sweet and thoughtful ! Putting the THANKS back into thanksgiving !

  3. Well aid Ron,

    Thank you Conor and Josh for all your hard work and im happy you can make a living in comics, It’s all the readers of comics dream to write or draw even meet the hard working ppl in the comics industry and you guys run a awesome website and grapichly is awesome thank you 4 exposing me to it even the free comics are great. And you Conor and Josh are awesome guys the only web podcast ppl who will actully reply back on Facbook and Twitter when i ask questions Happy Turley Day!!!

  4. Great article Ron. Happy thanksgiving! Although I’m shocked you’re not a thanksgiving fan! It’s my favourite holiday! It’s like Christmas without the hassle of dealing with crowded shopping malls and an empty wallet 😀

  5. Thank you, Ron.

  6. What is up with Jean in that panel?

    Anyways, I’m thankful too to have met all of these wonderful people on this site! It might not be the smoothest of friendships, but damnit I’m thankful for it. 🙂

  7. “For the past 10 years, Josh, Conor and I have been keeping the lights on at iFanboy”

    Wait…10 years?! I seriously thought this site was like, two years old.

  8. As expected, I got a little emotional when Ron said Connor and Josh are his best friends. That stuff gets me every time. Sincere, deep friendship like that moves me, I dunno why. As much as I enjoy the information and commentary, it’s the friendship among these three cats that keeps me coming back to this site and listening to the podcast. And to see them acknowledge it in these thanksgiving posts in a sincere manner just makes me all misty. So thanks, guys.

    Seriously, I got choked up at the end of Final Crisis #6 when Superman looked all angry holding Batman’s corpse because it was like “oh that’s his best friend, his heart is broken and of course he’s sad and angry! I’d be sad and angry!”
    Anyway.

  9. I thought that was a bunch of Marios towing that Spidey balloon. It is not. I am sad.

    Is Josh wearing a muscle suit in that C2E2 picture?

    Thanks for everything that you do, guys. I can’t remember how I found iFanboy, however long ago it was, but you’ve definitely made my comics experience even more rewarding.